The Book of Honor

A national bestseller, this extraordinary work of investigative reporting uncovers the identities, and the remarkable stories, of the CIA secret agents who died anonymously in the service of their country.

In the entrance of the CIA headquarters looms a huge marble wall into which seventy-one stars are carved-each representing an agent who has died in the line of duty. Official CIA records only name thirty-five of them, however. Undeterred by claims that revealing the identities of these "nameless stars" might compromise national security, Ted Gup sorted through thousands of documents and interviewed over 400 CIA officers in his attempt to bring their long-hidden stories to light. The result of this extraordinary work of investigation is a surprising glimpse at the real lives of secret agents, and an unprecedented history of the most compelling—and controversial—department of the US government.Ted Gup is the author of the bestseller The Book of Honor and of Nation of Secrets and A Secret Gift. He is a professor and chair of the journalism department at Emerson College. A former investigative reporter for The Washington Post and Time, he has also written for The New York Times, Newsweek, GQ, Slate, and Salon.com.